Saturday, January 16, 2010

Fear and Trembling

With this experiment comes a fair amount of trepidation. Not the least of my concerns is my appearance. I've looked through pictures of bald women and they seem to have some similar characteristics (beyond the obvious baldness, of course).

1) Long necks. They are swanlike and graceful, the perfect inverted C. They stretch, all sinew and lovely shadows.

2) Angular facial features. In the words of Dieter from “Sprockets”, they are beautiful and angular.

3) They are slender. The word “willowy” comes to mind.

4) This last one isn't a requirement, but tan-ness seems to

help.

I'm 0 for 4. My neck could fit nicely on a linebacker and my facial features are flat and soft. Don't even get me started on the slender thing. And if my skin was any paler, I would be transparent. I'm not knocking myself: I'm cool with how I look. I don't always like myself, but show me a girl who does. For the most part, I am comfortable with my appearance. Sometimes I even like it. However, the reality is that my features may not mesh well with baldness. And that makes me nervous. Here's my concern:


OR

So, yeah. That's my fear for today.

4 comments:

  1. I never went bald-bald, but i did shave down to fuzz (number 3 on the clippers) for a while. Since we're the same person, you already know i was 0 for 4 too. I still totally rocked the buzz, yo, and i'm pretty sure you will too.

    There's a certain fierceness that comes with forcibly and purposefully taking away something that people use to define you--it makes them have to deal with you more than they did before. The nice thing is, not only have you taken that away from others, but you've taken away a way to hide from yourself. It forces you to engage and to be engaged, but it's a good thing. It's definitely a moment of growth, and it changes you for the better, even once your hair's all grown out.

    I'm very excited about this, by the way. I don't know about the vibrations, but i loved having that short, soft fuzz--it was very soothing to rub my head, and it meant i didn't need shampoo (i would wash with soap when i'd wash). I have the world's weirdest cowlick at the back/right corner of my head, and no matter how hard i tried i would always have a little nub of hair that was just a little bit taller than the rest that i would call my thinking nub, because when i was thinking i would rub it. (Weird, i know.)

    Anyway, i've been rambling. Point is, i think this is awesome--both the shaving and the blog about it--and i'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.

    <3

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  2. Hey! So I have to say that from 17 to 19 I kept my hair in a very short buzz- like as short as it would go with out being shaved by a straight razor. I really loved it. My parents hated it because before then I had hair that was down past my butt! I just went and had it cut up really short, and then like a week later my friend said, "you should shave it like Ani Difranco" and so I did. I figured what the heck, right? Even my high school senior pictures have me with a shaved head! After 12 years of long, down to my butt hair, and I just cut it all off. I would do it again, but I think like you said there are those "prefessional expectations" that kinda hold a person back. So are you really going to go like straight razor to the scalp bald? Your head is going to freeze, like you have never imagined! You need me to knit you a hat?

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  3. PS Urlacher's got nothin' on you.

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